Who Is Joey Belle and Why Did He Change His Name to Albert Belle?

Updated

Joey Belle and Albert Belle are the same person. "Joey" was the name Albert Jojuan Belle went by early in his baseball career, and he later chose to be known as Albert. If you see "Joey Belle" on an old baseball card, in a 1980s or early-1990s newspaper clipping, or in a minor-league stat line, it refers to the same player who became famous as Albert Belle. His career statistics are not split between the two names — they all belong to one player.

The name itself

The fan site Ultimate Albert Belle lists his full name as Albert Jojuan Belle. "Joey" was a common short form of Jojuan (and of Albert Joseph-style names generally), and that is the name he used when he first came up in professional baseball.

He did not like being called Joey and preferred Albert, so he made the switch. From that point on, he was listed and referred to as Albert Belle in box scores, rosters, and media coverage.

Why you still run into "Joey Belle"

Because the change happened early in his career, the older name survives in places that were printed before or shortly after the switch:

  • Vintage baseball cards from his early professional years
  • Minor-league and early-career statistics in older reference books
  • Newspaper archives from the late 1980s and early 1990s
  • Collector listings and databases that index cards by the name printed on them

In every one of those cases, "Joey Belle" is the same player later known as Albert Belle.

What this means for looking him up

If you are searching for… Use this name
Career stats, home runs, timeline Albert Belle
Old baseball cards or early clippings Joey Belle (same person)
Biography and background Albert Belle (full name: Albert Jojuan Belle)

For anything resembling a full career record — statistics, home runs, timeline, teams like the Indians, White Sox, and Orioles — search Albert Belle. Treat Joey Belle as an alias that points to the same person, useful mainly when you are trying to match an old card or article to the player you already know as Albert Belle.

The Ultimate Albert Belle site (albertbelle.net) is an unofficial fan resource that covers his biography, career statistics, home runs, timeline, and team pages, and it uses the Albert Belle name throughout.